Day: April 24, 2026

A governor’s nominee for the Alaska Police Standards Council who served on the board for eight months has resigned following legislative confirmation hearings. 

The resignation comes after legislative hearings where Veronica Lambertsen was questioned about her eligibility for a rural seat on the board and social media and defended conspiracy theories. 

A spokesperson for Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office confirmed Friday morning that Lambertsen had resigned from the council, but did not provide a reason for the resignation.

Lambertsen was nominated for a three-year term on the 13-member Alaska Police Standards Council, which oversees law enforcement standards statewide. She had begun her term on the council representing a public seat last August after her nomination, and was up for confirmation before the Legislature this session. 

Lambertsen did not respond to a request for comment on the reason for her resignation on Friday. 

In a confirmation hearing Wednesday, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee put questions to Lambertsen about social media posts going several years back, where she defended views related to a variety of conspiracy theories questioning the Holocaust, the Jan. 6 insurrection and others. 

Lawmakers also questioned her eligibility for the seat, one of two public seats reserved to represent rural communities with a population of 2,500 or less, and suggested Wednesday she was not eligible for the position. 

Lambertsen is the owner of a motel in Bird Creek, a small neighborhood in Turnagain Arm that is part of the municipality of Anchorage. 

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

One of the nearly 20 candidates in the race for Alaska’s governorship is getting a significant boost from the state’s organized labor movement.

Four union officials are helping to lead a newly formed political group that will boost the candidacy of Republican Click Bishop, a former state senator from Fairbanks with a long background in the labor movement.

The group will have a six-figure budget to spend on Bishop and running mate Greta Schuerch as campaigning gears up for the mid-August primary, according to Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO.

Hall is one of the deputy treasurers of the pro-Bishop independent expenditure group — Alaska’s state-level equivalent to the big-spending super PACs that participate in federal elections.

In a twist on the state’s popular “Pick.Click.Give” program, which allows Alaskans to divert a share of their annual oil checks to charities, the new group is called “Pick Click and Greta for Alaska.” It was registered Monday.

The group’s efforts could prove crucial for Bishop, as the dozen Republicans in the field seek to distinguish themselves and vie for a finite amount of financial support.

Hall’s labor group, the AFL-CIO, is an umbrella organization and hasn’t issued a formal endorsement in the race. But many AFL-CIO members are eager to support Bishop, she added, and officials from two unions — representing carpenters and heavy equipment operators — are also registered as deputy treasurers of the pro-Bishop group.

Hall said there are several other candidates in the field who “really care about working people.”

But, she added, “Click’s just not a politician to us. He is us.”

Bishop has been a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers 302 and worked on construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline when; he’s also been a state labor commissioner.

A campaign spokesperson said Bishop was not immediately available for comment.

Nathaniel Herz welcomes tips at natherz@gmail.com or (907) 793-0312. This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Herz. Subscribe at this link.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE